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Partholon
The Twin Towers are still smoldering when those odd little anthrax letters kill a few people in Florida and DC and New York. Some nutcase, everyone thinks, but they're not - they're a setup, a precursor to a massive biological attack that leaves the Northeast a quarantined wasteland.
Campus policeman John Rashkil, trapped inside the Zone, chooses to keep doing his job, adding judge and executioner to his resume. He builds a jury-rigged life from what he can salvage and tries to help his teenage son out of the bear-trap that is the new Byzantine America.
But a growing sense of futility shatters his confidence, and he is unprepared when a rabble army seeks to break quarantine and pour into the uninfected lands.
Based on an old Irish legend of the same name, Partholon is a brutal look at how the just and the civilized respond to anarchy. It will delight lovers of action and military science fiction, like John Scalzi's Old Man's War or Robert Ferrigno's Prayers for the Assassin.
Campus policeman John Rashkil, trapped inside the Zone, chooses to keep doing his job, adding judge and executioner to his resume. He builds a jury-rigged life from what he can salvage and tries to help his teenage son out of the bear-trap that is the new Byzantine America.
But a growing sense of futility shatters his confidence, and he is unprepared when a rabble army seeks to break quarantine and pour into the uninfected lands.
Based on an old Irish legend of the same name, Partholon is a brutal look at how the just and the civilized respond to anarchy. It will delight lovers of action and military science fiction, like John Scalzi's Old Man's War or Robert Ferrigno's Prayers for the Assassin.
- GenresApocalypticHorror
310 pages, Paperback
First published September 8, 2013
9 people are currently reading
939 people want to read
About the author
D. Krauss
15 books51 followersD. Krauss currently resides in the Shenandoah Valley. He's been a cottonpicker, a sod buster, a surgical orderly, the guy who paints the little white line down the middle of the road, a weatherman, a gun-totin’ door-kickin’ lawman, a layabout, and a bus driver, in that order.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
February 9, 2014
Partholon is set in a bleak, post-apocalyptic world where the north east of the United States is quarantined after being subjected to a devastating germ warfare attack.
University security guard John Rashkil is trapped inside the Zone, meting out summary justice to the various lawless elements that have blossomed in the wake of disaster. This is The Equaliser meets Mad Max with hints of On The Beach.
But whilst the action is fast-paced and brutal, there's a good deal of philosophy too as John struggles to come to terms with how fast civilised society collapses. We also see his hopes and fears for his son, Collier, outside the zone in a military academy.
Thrilling and thought-provoking in pretty much equal measure.
University security guard John Rashkil is trapped inside the Zone, meting out summary justice to the various lawless elements that have blossomed in the wake of disaster. This is The Equaliser meets Mad Max with hints of On The Beach.
But whilst the action is fast-paced and brutal, there's a good deal of philosophy too as John struggles to come to terms with how fast civilised society collapses. We also see his hopes and fears for his son, Collier, outside the zone in a military academy.
Thrilling and thought-provoking in pretty much equal measure.
December 14, 2017
Partholon is a fantastic read. I was completely shocked when I came across with this book. D. Krauss has written a genre gem. There is plenty of action and Mad Max type of end of the world fighting. However, it is a stream of consciousness book that is very personal. His protagonist has feelings and lots of them. D. Krauss has placed the reader inside his skull and it is brilliant. The reader sees a man that is black and white, good or bad and nothing in between. Yet, there are plenty of little cheats he uses to get through his day. The justification of why he does what he does and his personal politics. If you are easily offended, be forewarned, this guy is not s shrinking violet.
The world of Partholon is typical genre post-apocalyptic, but it is much better than the average fare. This is almost an alternate history book because it starts at the Twin Towers destruction and then takes a left turn into Hell. This is as realistic as it gets. The world gets creamed, but it survives. Even better, is how the world goes on and yet, does not.
Partholon has supporting characters, but they are almost and afterthought. Yet they keep the story moving and at the very end I understood what D. Krauss was doing and I was amazed. They are important.
Partholon is a genre book, but make no mistake it is an excellent book. I have the feeling that D. Krauss saw the future and this is what he saw. What a great job.
The world of Partholon is typical genre post-apocalyptic, but it is much better than the average fare. This is almost an alternate history book because it starts at the Twin Towers destruction and then takes a left turn into Hell. This is as realistic as it gets. The world gets creamed, but it survives. Even better, is how the world goes on and yet, does not.
Partholon has supporting characters, but they are almost and afterthought. Yet they keep the story moving and at the very end I understood what D. Krauss was doing and I was amazed. They are important.
Partholon is a genre book, but make no mistake it is an excellent book. I have the feeling that D. Krauss saw the future and this is what he saw. What a great job.
June 14, 2015
The good: I like the concept (I love a good apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic tale, and this is a pleasantly realistic concept). It's fun that it is set in Washington DC and nearabouts. (You'd probably get a big kick out of it if you're familiar with American University.)
The bad: Could use another pass through an editor. Mediocre writing. Hardly anything actually happens; it's more exposition than story. Overtly preachy.
I really wish there was more of an actual plot. Such a good concept wasted on a short-story amount of plot buried under a novel amount of exposition. It was a bear to get through because of that. Would make a good non-fiction book about post-apocalyptic survival techniques.
The bad: Could use another pass through an editor. Mediocre writing. Hardly anything actually happens; it's more exposition than story. Overtly preachy.
I really wish there was more of an actual plot. Such a good concept wasted on a short-story amount of plot buried under a novel amount of exposition. It was a bear to get through because of that. Would make a good non-fiction book about post-apocalyptic survival techniques.
July 12, 2020
DISCLAIMER:
I received a copy of this book for free as a winner of a giveaway promoted by the author here on Goodreads.
This novel was definetely a pleasant surprise. Interesting uchronia, interesting american POV, post-apocaliptic ambience and well constructed (plausible) situations. I'm learning now that the novel is now available to purchase, but I hope it will return to be sold because I found a level of thickness, language and more originality than major bestseller authors. I grew attached to the characters and I'm eager to read the second volume. Hope the author will write more books like this.
I received a copy of this book for free as a winner of a giveaway promoted by the author here on Goodreads.
This novel was definetely a pleasant surprise. Interesting uchronia, interesting american POV, post-apocaliptic ambience and well constructed (plausible) situations. I'm learning now that the novel is now available to purchase, but I hope it will return to be sold because I found a level of thickness, language and more originality than major bestseller authors. I grew attached to the characters and I'm eager to read the second volume. Hope the author will write more books like this.
May 27, 2015
Let me just start off with: I really enjoyed this book.
I liked the story. I liked the style, the manly, muscular writing. I liked the action. I liked the humor, of both the straight and gallows varieties. I found the book to be a real grabber and page turner. It cost me a lot of sleep as bed time is when I do the bulk of my pleasure reading. Partholon proved way too engaging to willingly put down.
I found the main character, John, to be an archetypal American hero. A sort of John Wayne, MacGyver, John McClain, mix. He had a clear moral compass, a clear vision and a clear belief in right and wrong. But mostly he was a survivor. Willing to do what it took to protect himself and his own. I admire that, as I admired particularly his take on the scumbags who engineered, encouraged and carried out the 911 attacks on the U.S. I found that passage especially powerful. I could feel the passionate outrage leaping from the page. Well done. But I digress. To sum up my feelings for John Rashkil let me just say I found him to be a true American hero of the legendary kind. A man who despite long odds will fight for what he believes in and will sacrifice to win that fight. The type of man who made this country great and one I would willingly follow into battle.
The setting of the story was of particular interest to me. Having grown up in the Washington, DC area I was fascinated by the evocative descriptions of an anti-utopian Nation's Capitol and its surrounds. Kudos to D. Krauss on his fertile imagination and his ability to bring his vision to life on the page.
Speaking of that imagination I want more. Given the explanation of the title (p83 for those of you who need a refresher) I suppose John is Partholon. Which would leave Collier as the son of Partholon who is "reborn as a baby, thousands of years later, with all the knowledge of everything that has happened before." Well, D. Krauss, inquiring minds want to know. What is your concept for the America (or wherever) that Collier is reborn into?
In closing, do yourself a favor. If you are looking for a great read full of action, adventure, shoot outs, explosions, ingenuity and heart (after all Rashikil is a man driven by love, love for his son, his late wife and his country) then grab yourself a copy of Partholon.
I liked the story. I liked the style, the manly, muscular writing. I liked the action. I liked the humor, of both the straight and gallows varieties. I found the book to be a real grabber and page turner. It cost me a lot of sleep as bed time is when I do the bulk of my pleasure reading. Partholon proved way too engaging to willingly put down.
I found the main character, John, to be an archetypal American hero. A sort of John Wayne, MacGyver, John McClain, mix. He had a clear moral compass, a clear vision and a clear belief in right and wrong. But mostly he was a survivor. Willing to do what it took to protect himself and his own. I admire that, as I admired particularly his take on the scumbags who engineered, encouraged and carried out the 911 attacks on the U.S. I found that passage especially powerful. I could feel the passionate outrage leaping from the page. Well done. But I digress. To sum up my feelings for John Rashkil let me just say I found him to be a true American hero of the legendary kind. A man who despite long odds will fight for what he believes in and will sacrifice to win that fight. The type of man who made this country great and one I would willingly follow into battle.
The setting of the story was of particular interest to me. Having grown up in the Washington, DC area I was fascinated by the evocative descriptions of an anti-utopian Nation's Capitol and its surrounds. Kudos to D. Krauss on his fertile imagination and his ability to bring his vision to life on the page.
Speaking of that imagination I want more. Given the explanation of the title (p83 for those of you who need a refresher) I suppose John is Partholon. Which would leave Collier as the son of Partholon who is "reborn as a baby, thousands of years later, with all the knowledge of everything that has happened before." Well, D. Krauss, inquiring minds want to know. What is your concept for the America (or wherever) that Collier is reborn into?
In closing, do yourself a favor. If you are looking for a great read full of action, adventure, shoot outs, explosions, ingenuity and heart (after all Rashikil is a man driven by love, love for his son, his late wife and his country) then grab yourself a copy of Partholon.
May 12, 2016
I’m not sure how I feel about the dragging out of the details of “The Event”. The narrative comes together around it later, but at first it’s just this weird mystery. I would have liked at least a little more information on it. It’s the ‘killer flu’ variant of the apocalypse, which primarily matters in how it affects the preparations people make, as well as what they’re willing to do depending on how scarcely occupied the city is.
The narrative style is talkative, garrulous, almost a stream-of-consciousness sort of thing, coming from John’s point of view. It isn’t a style I normally go for, but I thought it worked in Partholon. It did take me a little while to get into it, though. I love that while John’s human friends are few and far between, most of his companionship comes in the form of dogs: Hairbag and Lupus run free but come back for food; Snuffy is largely an indoor dog. Despite his desolate part of the city, he comes up with ways to keep himself from going totally mad. There seems to be some limited amount of phone calling available; John’s calls with his son Collier help to give Collier at least a little bit of hope.
To be clear–John is absolutely a racist figure, using epithets like “towel-heads”. I never felt like it was the author standing on a soapbox and speaking through John; it felt like a legitimate part of John’s character. (At least I sincerely hope that’s all it is.)
It took me a while to figure out what the deal was with Collier, and some of the other groups in town. Of course, in a bio-kill you have to wonder why it is that the nice people seem to get disproportionately killed. (Or maybe it’s just a statement arguing that even nice people will go bad if you put them under pressure. That’s one thing John didn’t seem to philosophize over.) As it is, John does a lot of philosophizing about the event, the people he knows, the future that’s coming. Somehow Krauss makes that philosophizing interesting. Partholon may not be my favorite post-apocalypse story, but John’s point of view makes it better than many I’ve read.
Original review on my site: http://www.errantdreams.com/2016/05/r...
The narrative style is talkative, garrulous, almost a stream-of-consciousness sort of thing, coming from John’s point of view. It isn’t a style I normally go for, but I thought it worked in Partholon. It did take me a little while to get into it, though. I love that while John’s human friends are few and far between, most of his companionship comes in the form of dogs: Hairbag and Lupus run free but come back for food; Snuffy is largely an indoor dog. Despite his desolate part of the city, he comes up with ways to keep himself from going totally mad. There seems to be some limited amount of phone calling available; John’s calls with his son Collier help to give Collier at least a little bit of hope.
To be clear–John is absolutely a racist figure, using epithets like “towel-heads”. I never felt like it was the author standing on a soapbox and speaking through John; it felt like a legitimate part of John’s character. (At least I sincerely hope that’s all it is.)
It took me a while to figure out what the deal was with Collier, and some of the other groups in town. Of course, in a bio-kill you have to wonder why it is that the nice people seem to get disproportionately killed. (Or maybe it’s just a statement arguing that even nice people will go bad if you put them under pressure. That’s one thing John didn’t seem to philosophize over.) As it is, John does a lot of philosophizing about the event, the people he knows, the future that’s coming. Somehow Krauss makes that philosophizing interesting. Partholon may not be my favorite post-apocalypse story, but John’s point of view makes it better than many I’ve read.
Original review on my site: http://www.errantdreams.com/2016/05/r...
June 3, 2024
Generally I like books by Krauss. But this one was just unreadable. I discarded it after 12 chapters. I really did try to give it a chance.
The biggest issues I had with this book had to do with clarity and bad assumptions regarding the reader's knowledge of the area.
In terms of clarity, Krauss used a number of terms and abbreviations he never explained. I never did figure out what "ZeeGees" meant. There were many other terms that just didn't make sense and were never explained. And his lack of continuity didn't help. The protagonist would encounter a woman, referenced only by her neighborhood, spend several paragraphs describing other events or people and then say, "She...". The reader has to backtrack to figure out which of the characters is 'She'.
My second complaint had to do with understanding all the local references to Washington, DC and it's surrounding area. It took a couple of chapters just to figure out it was even taking place in DC. And then he started talking about streets and neighborhoods that I'm guessing every reader in the world would recognize. Perhaps if he had provided a map. But the references were just too obscure.
I really don't recommend this book to anyone but the most masochistic readers.
The biggest issues I had with this book had to do with clarity and bad assumptions regarding the reader's knowledge of the area.
In terms of clarity, Krauss used a number of terms and abbreviations he never explained. I never did figure out what "ZeeGees" meant. There were many other terms that just didn't make sense and were never explained. And his lack of continuity didn't help. The protagonist would encounter a woman, referenced only by her neighborhood, spend several paragraphs describing other events or people and then say, "She...". The reader has to backtrack to figure out which of the characters is 'She'.
My second complaint had to do with understanding all the local references to Washington, DC and it's surrounding area. It took a couple of chapters just to figure out it was even taking place in DC. And then he started talking about streets and neighborhoods that I'm guessing every reader in the world would recognize. Perhaps if he had provided a map. But the references were just too obscure.
I really don't recommend this book to anyone but the most masochistic readers.
November 12, 2014
D. Krauss has come up with a parable for our times.
In an alternative 2001, the threat level in the mid-Atlantic states doesn't let up. Chaos reigns as wave after wave of horrors ensue. Campus cop John Rashkil takes up arms against this sea of troubles and, through his eyes, we see how quickly civilization, rule of law, and individual rights once held to be inalienable can evaporate.
In the wake of 9/11, I wrote a novel called "Land That I Love" that lampoons the cycle of hubris and bloodymindedness that follow such tragedies. But "Partholon" is dead serious. Whatever your political leanings, you'll recognize and empathize with the loss of power and sense of paranoia that permeates life in this dystopic vision.
In an alternative 2001, the threat level in the mid-Atlantic states doesn't let up. Chaos reigns as wave after wave of horrors ensue. Campus cop John Rashkil takes up arms against this sea of troubles and, through his eyes, we see how quickly civilization, rule of law, and individual rights once held to be inalienable can evaporate.
In the wake of 9/11, I wrote a novel called "Land That I Love" that lampoons the cycle of hubris and bloodymindedness that follow such tragedies. But "Partholon" is dead serious. Whatever your political leanings, you'll recognize and empathize with the loss of power and sense of paranoia that permeates life in this dystopic vision.
February 23, 2015
I liked the book well enough. Decent apocalypse story but sometimes it was distracting following the characters thoughts and his focus on the present. He just seemed more scatter brained at some parts so that's when I would almost lose interest in some chapters. There was a lot of imagery so you really could paint the picture. Overall good apocalypse story, not the best but still good.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews